SOUTH TARANAKI CLUBS

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 28 January 1933, Page 8

SOUTH TARANAKI CLUBS

LAST WEEK’S MATCHES. SPECTACULAR BATTING. South Taranaki cricket matches last Saturday proved decidedly interesting, i and in three cases at least there was a period in the play when the result was in duobt and when both players ancl spectators were watching closely and speculating as to the ultimate result. A result probably unique in the history- of cricket in this district was the outcome of the meeting, of High School aucl Patea, in which the former scored a brilliant victory. It is rare, indeed, to see one innings of over 200 in an ordinary cup match in South Taranaki' and this has been matter for favourable comment, . Still more infrequent is a match in whiclr both teams top the 200- mark. One has to go back a long way in local cricket to find such an occurrence. But the match referred to saw both teams score over 200 runs with the loss of only a part of the wickets ; only three Patea wickets fell and two batsmen retired. School did much better, and with one -wicket gone they put on 210 runs. Another feature of the match was the contrast in styles. Patea players went along normally in the main. The century maker Jones had. 13 fours in his total,, and his partner Palmer four. The latter is, known as a slow scorer. Paterson, however, provided a bright patch, for he made 26 in eight •scoring shots, six fours and two singles . School, on the other hand, knowing that time was against them, went for the howling in most pronounced style. Duke, their century maker, got 134 in quick time. His figures included seven shots clean over the boundary and 13 that reached the boundary—94 out of a total of 134. It was real hiirricane hitting and, roused intense excitement among the spectators and was the greatest innings seen on the Patea Domain.

Pritchard, the star bowler, proved once more his all-round ability when he added a quota of 55 towards the desired total. He had eight fours, one three, seven twos and only six singles. He also did his .share nobly. As might be expected, howling ■ averages' oil both sides suffered from the intensive batting. Sargeson (School) was the only howler to get more than one wicket and no fewer than eight ■bowlers failed to secure a wicket. It was a match which serves to show that generally teams would get results if they went for the bowling more than is often the case. The spectator sees much howling every Saturday that should be severely punished, and the batsmen are content merely to play it. A large number of batsmen should accustom themselves to putting some weight behind their strokes. They could do this without being in any way rash or daring, and onlookers would accord them hearty appreciation.

KAPONGA v. STRATFORD A. Kaponga, in defeating Stratford A, recovered the prestige they , lost when they previously met the .same team. They were- in good batting and bowling form and quite overshadowed their competitors. They had an easy win. The players responsible were mainly Stan, and Vern. Betts, Foster, Court and Reg. Eden. All did yeoman service. '' , • _ 'S. Betts and Foster bowled very effectively and secured eight of the 10 wickets, the former getting five and the latter three. Betts did a great service to. his team by .securing Hall’s wicket cheaply; then he polished off the tail very quickly. Foster got three good wickets. The only serviceable stand made for Stratford A was by Collins, Walker, Davies and Young, who amongst them made 87 of the 128 .scored.

Court and Eden gave a. very useful start to the Kaponga team by a combined contribution of 98 runs, most of which were made before they _ were •separated, and then S. Betts joined Eden and the Stratford total was -passed, when the two batsmen retired. V. Betts added 31 not out and the •stumps were drawn when 184 was on tlie hoard.

HAWERA A v. STRATFORD B. Hawera A have done much better of late, and in their match, with Stratford B showed some of their best form. Penny once more showed that lie is able to control the -ball much more than most of the players. He can break both ways, with, however, a penchant for the off break, and while he kept liis length always had’ the ''batsmen guessing. His occasional straight one, too, without clianpe of action, was always disconcerting. He came out with an excellent average. He ulso batted well and proved that lie is still the most effective player m the team. / Stratford B failed in batting, .with the single exception of Sandford, but they put up a good fight when Hawera were approaching their score, and actually got rid of three batsmen without a run being added when the scores 'wore equal. T'hey finislietl tilie* match, with credit to themselves, and showed that they were never beaten until the numbers were uii. 'Graham and Cocke rill, the two'last men of the Hawera team, provided some of the breeziest batting of the match, the former getting the only six. Alto-' get, Tver the match crave the 'spectators quite a lot of excitement, and, with a little luck, Stratford B might have made the result much closer.

OLD BOYS v. HAWERA, B. j

Old Boys had an easy win from Haweral B, as was expected. The latter is not a strong team, but their howlers dismissed cheaply eight of the opposin" batsmen, ancl the majority ot the Old Boys runs were made by Moloney, Samir and W. Barker. It appeared the Old Boys did not take the match very seriously; they did nob use the Barkers in batting until the cud of the innings. . ~ Stevens proved again that he is tne most reliable of the Hawera howlers, and came through with easily the best average. He also secured the greatest number of runs and was unbeaten when the last wicket fell. Sturrock had a harvest of Hawera wickets, no less than seven falling to him. Herbert- got the rest. POSITION OF THE TEAMS.

The result of the match at’ Kapongai changed the order of the teams in championship points: and deposed Stratford from the leading position, Old Boys taking then- place, Kappnga and Stratford A being level. Actually, however. Stratford A have one more win to then- credit than Kaponga, two less drawn and one more in losses than Kapnga,. , Hawera A have steadily improved their position and now run fourth, onlv two points behind. There seems no reason why they should not stilL further improve their place if they will o-et to work and secure steady practice. PLUNKET SHIELD. Auckland improved their shield position very materially by the win over Wellington. This, however, proved a verv ’ fine struggle and the margin was small. , i Wellington is having a lean time this year and has never been “in the hunt.” The result of the shield contest for this season now depends on the match between Canterbury and Otago, and on the form shown the odds are with Otago. Their win would be very popular. A COMING BATSMAN. Commenting on the play of one of the Victoria College team, who was in Hawera with them on tour, the Wellington “Post” says that “Wilson; who belongs to a country team, but always plays with ’Varsity in vacation time, hatted well for 106 in a match last Saturday. He started slowly, hut later got into his stride, scoring from a variety of strokes. Hits to leg were made to good purpose. Included in his total were twelve fours and one five.” Wilson, is a brother of “A. M.” of the Stratford A team, and learnt his cricket at Wellington College.

THE TEST MATCHES

AND THE BOARD’S PROTEST.

The reply of the M.O.C. Board to the protest from Ausrtalia in regard to the much-debated bowling of the English “expresses,” though insisting on the legality of the tactics employed, has shown a tendency to reconsider the whole question if the Australian Board still insisted, but they evidently did not feel inclined to question the authority of the English captain and the managers. It would bo deplorable if the position developed to such an extent that test matches were cancelled. The originators of this debated plan of campaign are Legally within their rights, hut the question still insists, is any game worth such action? Are not the English Board and those responsible for the tactics talcing the possession of a trophy too seriously ? This plan of campaign must have been developing before it was sprung on the Australians, and the M.C.O. Board must have been aware of it before the tests were played, although one did not heatmuch of it before they commenced. Though the English Board expresses a readiness to discuss a! new rule or law if desired, there -seems to be, in their reply generally, little spirit of concession or consideration, and one fears it will not do much to allay the keen feeling shown in Australia. Sir Joynton Smith, writing in an Australian sporting paper, deprecates the new tactics, adding that f ‘ ‘every game survives those persons? who, being over hungry for immediate victory, forget the niceties of sportsmanship. Sport, indeed, is able to bring men up to its own high level.” He urges an all-round expression of views “in order to sustain the grand traditions of clean sport.” He refers also to the point raised in this column last- week, that one would like to know why it was the manager of the team and Mi- Hobbs protested against the bowling of Bowes in a county match, which apparently was similar to that to which objection is taken in Australia, and say nothing to support the objectors in a test match. Do thev consider there should be two standards of play, one for .the test and one for the rest of the game ? In “Cricketing Memories.” by Frank R. Foster, the famous bowler for England of 20 years ago and one of the famous cricketing family of Worcestershire. Mr P. F. Warner lias written a long introduction. The writer savs. inter alia: “And no right-handed bowler should ever trv this leg-theory business, especially if over medium pace, as it is extremely dangerous for the batsman and the word ‘cricket’ means sportsmanship. . . “The English players 1 themselves? are revealing very little spontaneous sporting pleasure. . The cricketing air to the players is becoming like the atmosphere of war.” It would seem that the sport of the game is not such a- feature as should be the case, and one asks again. “Is anv trophy and any success' worth while if tlie spirit of the game is lost or is endangered?” The renlv and next step of the Australian Board will be awaited with keen interest.

DISTRICT .CRICKET. Soutli Taranaki has in the past been more closely associated, so far a.t least as the country districts are concerned, with Rugby football, which has; come to be looked upon as the Dominion’s national game. In the early days, however, cricket flourished in many parts of the country, and reference to old files of the “Star” show,si how many clubs were formed in this district. This activity was mainly the outcome of the interest taken in the game by early settlers and by soldiers of the British regiments and members of the Armed Constabulary, the mobile force formed as a kind of outpost on the borders of settlement and a, safeguard against the Maoris, who, until after the fall of Parihaka, ill. 1881, were a menace to the settlers. These forces included in their numbers many fine players, and it was natural that they should look for an outlet to theninterest. . Grounds were sought and found and wickets in some cases laid down, and much good cricket was seen. Hawera regularly sent teams to Manaia, Opunake, Normanby and Patca, and had many interesting contests with these military elevens.

DAIRY FACTORY CRICKET. Of late there has been an expansion of interest among the young men of the dairy factories. These staffs in-